Leaderboard

Hate to say it, but unless you like waking up super early or can sleep through construction, the room I’m in is a bad idea. The amount of vibration this morning while we docked at CocoCay was quite surprising. We got up later than we wanted and decided to go to the wedding first, then pool (as opposed to pool before the wedding). Weather today was warm, but windy and mostly cloudy. I don’t mind since it makes for more comfortable outdoor conditions. The wedding took place near the straw market, facing the ocean and ship. Great venue and view as well.

And we’re on board! We both needed coffee pretty desperately, so straight to La Patisserie to take advantage of our Refreshment Package.

Obligatory sunset pictures

We went here.. and to the place across the street - wish I remembered the name - but they filled the pastries while you were there so they were not soggy when we got them. BUT.. the plan was to bring them to the ship - hmmm...... they didnt make it! 🙂 I ate the last ones in the Lyft on the way back to the ship. So my add to this - buy more than you think you need if taking back to the ship!

The Old and New San Juan tour was a bit of a bust. This started and ran smoothly. I especially like the way they handle tours out of the port here. Instead of lining up by station number, you just turn right at the end of the pier and they immediately start putting a van-load of passengers together. When they hit capacity (15 in this case), off you go and they just start collecting people for the next van. I was out there a bit early, along with more than 15 others who booked the same tour. They launched us ahead of the scheduled time. The tour was a little over 2 hours. Our first stop was a short distance from the port, and we had 15 minutes to poke our heads into the Capitol building. Good for a rotunda dome photo, a peek at the PR constitution, and a few historical displays. Granted, the 10-bizillion-tiled dome is very pretty. Next stop (um, drive-by) was the castle/fort Castillo de San Cristobal. We drove up the mock entrance, and then straight back out. No stop and absolutely no vantage from the van to photograph anything but a close-up of a limestone wall. I’ll spare you. As we were admiring the wall, I thought to myself, “Self — that might have been interesting to go inside and look around.” Next stop was the Cementerio Santa Maria. We stopped there for 10 minutes to admire the cemetery and ocean from afar, and to get a distant view of the rump-end of Castillo San Filipe del Moro, that we would also not be visiting. Next we were let off at Plaza Colon. Mostly souvenir shops and restaurants. Some people decided to tour the Marshall’s store. I had a $16 Margarita and bought a colorful carved stone turtle to keep my towel animals company. Having concluded our whirlwind tour of historic Old San Juan, we skedaddled across the bridge to explore New San Juan. 15 minutes later we arrived at a tiny park the size of two basketball courts, within a short walk to the beach behind the Hotel Coronado. The main attraction here was the Ben & Jerry’s. We had 25 minutes to admire the grass, the ocean view, and Ben & Jerry’s air conditioning while eating Coconut Seven Layer Bar ice cream. Ocean view was pretty. And, that was a wrap. Back to the ship. The one thing I really did like was our driver/guide Diego. During our drive time, he did give us a lot of relevant history of all the interesting stuff we wouldn’t be experiencing. I think I’m just cranky because Mr. & Mrs. Talksloud-Alot in the seats behind me were compelled to babble on continuously, loudly, and over Diego’s narration the entire time. I wish I’d brought a couple of extra socks. I’m happy to report their good for nothing son will at least be helping install new window screens while they’re gone Departure was right on time. Lucky for the 2 pier runners (had ‘em today!) who did the 100 yard dash at 12:58 to just squeak in under the 1PM all-aboard time. Not so lucky for the other 3 of 5 people they’d been calling on the PA for since 12:50. Oops. Tip: get your spot on the starboard side rail early (like at least 15 minutes before departure) if you want to snap some great pics on the way out to sea. The railing is really packed for this departure.

Cabin Tour: We are in a 2br Grand Suite 8694. This is on the very back of the ship. General thoughts, there is tons of storage in this cabin. We did notice some vibrations when the ship was sailing. It never really bothered us, and at times almost seemed soothing. The times it was very noticable was when backing into ports and whether the azipods were fully rotated, or switched into reverse, you really felt the vabrations then. Unfortunately this woke me up each morning. So here I am on a relaxing cruise and I have woken up at 5-5:30 each morning.....Everyone else slept through it. Here is the kids room, prior to the beds being split Kids bathroom This stateroom had a large walk in closet Living room with more storage. There is also a table with 4 chairs. \ Master Bedroom Hers and Hers closets in the Master Vanity Area

Day 6 - Sea Day Sunrise in the Pacific Captain's Corner and the next lecture in the on-going enrichment talk series later this morning. Morning temperature 75°F. Expected high today around 81°F.

Day 4 Kobe . We left Osaka at 4 am and arrived Kobe at 7 am, that's what we have been told but we were sleeping as we did not planned any excursion for Kobe. We woke up late and most of the places were already closed so we went to 270 which always a nice late breakfast option. We then went to get orgnized for the port and went to catch a shuttle to the city. The port arrange free shuttle the downtown Kobe or you can take the subway. At port I exchanged 20$ to Yens as there some street food stands which will no accept credit cards. The exchange rate was better than Google rate , welcome to Japan , they really trying here. After 10 minute ride we got to China town , since we just arrived from Chains we continued to o a covered street near by with tons of shops and restaurants. Typical Japanese sign We shopped for some souvenirs (Sake sets and some chopsticks) and got some Japanese cosmetics/medicines which you do not anywhere else beside Japan , you might find it online but price is much higher. Not sure what works and what not but hey they have the highest average lifespan so they must do something right :-). We thought to eat some Kobe beef in Kobe but after I read about the way they grow the cows for this meet we skipped it , don't get me wrong I have not a vegetarian and enjoy meet but its just did not sound right to us, so sorry no resturants stories from Kobe. We catched the shuttle back before big lines started to form. Got to to the ship , sign off the Sake bottle we bought and went to eat something. We went to bean &leave to drink cheese dragon fruit tea and cheese strawberry Drinks , it's much better than it sounds and we made it our daily drink , it also can come instead of a meal We had 6 PM appointment at the North star, apperently many other had and li es was around 30 minutes , shame on you RC. This is how it looked few hours before I asked for 6 PM to catch the sunset but as someone said once , "they now how to take the reservation but not to hold it" oh well we went up around 18:30, it was nice but for some reason the lights inside the gondola is really making me it hard to take pictures , here what I got At least it's nice to take a picture of it from the outside Dinner was in the MDR , we love the service , everything is super quick and they fill our wine glasses before it finished. Not like the silver dining room the menu is changing daily and contains lots of western options and some far east Finally an animal Next we went to see the headliner show which was the Golden duo which are combination of dancers ,acrobats and comedians. It was nice to watch. The post activities was a wild west party which apparently was one of the most popular events. Well it was time to call it of , Tommorow Tokyo.

The tour continues with our first sitings of old lava flows. Not the Kraken variety. Driving along the highway everything looks normal then you come across a barren section of land where it looks like someone has tilled the land but really it's a lava flow from decades or hundreds of years ago. In some cases plant life is starting to make roots. The brown area may look like dirt but it isn't. It's more lava rock. There are three predominant types of lava found on Hawaii. Most of this is an example of aa lava, a very fast moving form that causes the flow to crack and break into pieces. This is the big island. The whole island was like this once but in areas that haven't received new flows a soil has formed over hundreds or thousands of years. The isn't soil very deep though and lava rock like you see here is never far from the surface. That makes it hard for trees to take root or to plant electric poles like this one. This is an example of pahoehoe lava and it moves slower allowing a skin to form that protects the molten lava within so it doesn't crack in the same manner as aa lava. The side of the lava exposed to air oxidized and became the porous lava rock we use in our BBQ grills while the lava flow further from the surface cools at a different rate that often causes it to crack and splinter. Note the brown lava rock versus the black lava rock. More on that later. The Southernmost point in the US in the distance. To give you an idea how slowly plant growth comes back there are three lava flows in this area. The oldest flow is brown in color now because of the high iron content. It basically rusts over time turning the lava rock into a color that looks like soil. It's not soil though, just more lava rock. The brown lava rock is believed to be from a flow between 750 and 1,500 years ago. The darker "newer" lava flow is from 1907. Note there are no trees on the darker flow, only the 1,000 year old lava has plant life. This one species of tree has adapted to life on lava and it produces an enzyme that can break down the lava rock and allow its root to penetrate the rock. The tree and the red flower that blooms on them have a storied beginning in Hawaiian folklore. More on that later. This lava flow rock is very sharp. If you fell down it would hurt and probably cut you. This is what the native population had to deal with prior to modern times. No roads, no cars but to navigate Hawaii the native population had to deal with navigating across these types of flows all over the island for hundreds of years.

Last of the enrichment talks today ended with a lecture on the history of Pearl Harbor. This series of lectures has featured Quintinn Holi, a native Hawaiian as guest speaker. The lectures have progressed through the history of Hawaii. The original rulers of the Kingdom of Hawaii, the US occupation, statehood and finally Pearl Harbor. Performing live for us was Gordon Freitas, a retired Navy Chief who has written songs such as BB-39 (Battleship Arizona) and Peaceful Arizona.

As someone in the medical field, I can highly recommend that you rapidly book two more cruises and post in the morning!!! That is exactly what helps my post cruise blues!!!🤣

Time to leave Key West. As we started to drop lines and get ready to sail away it seemed this one wouldn't be as majestic as the last Key West sail away sunset. The crowds gathered in Mallory Square to see me off. Okay, may the sunset had something to do with it. Yeah not as spectacular as last cruise. But wait, what's that? An opening between cloud layers? Maybe tonight would be a decent sunset after all. Like that it was over.

Today I went to collect our passports from the Chines visa agents , finally we found few days were we are both at home and can leave the passport for few days (it takes up to four days to get the visa if you are not paying for expedite process) so I guess it’s a good opportunity to start this “I do not know how live it will be” blog. It’s a different cruise for sure , many first times for us , first time going to China , first time on Quantum class , first time cruise to Japan and firs time on a cruise that English is not the first language. I am sure we will have much more first times , but that’s what make us so excited. Why we choose this cruise ? well , apparently it was a childhood dream of my spouse to visit Japan and it will be her first time there , for me it will be the second time but the other time was quite a long time ago and was a business trip, also it’s a new ship , and a new class , do we really need other reasons ? So what is the plan : Two days in Shanghai – Some tour in the city , still did not choose one although I so a nice bicycle day trip which we might take. I already booked a nice hotel near one of the main square , the location is important as we wanted to be at the center to reduce traveling , as we are landing very early in the morning I guess we will store our suitcase in the hotel and start to tour the area. I thought to book the hotel a day earlier so we will get the room once we will arrive but as I know both of us , we will get to the room and go to sleep and miss important hours in the city 😊. On 1-October we will do our way to the port . Our itinerary : 01 OCT - SHANGHAI (BAOSHAN), CHINA 02 OCT - Cruising 03 OCT – OSAKA, Japan 04 OCT- OSAKA , Japan 04 OCT – Kobe Japan 05 OCT – Tokyo (Yokohama) , Japan 06 OCT – Cruising 07 OCT – Cruising 08 OCT - SHANGHAI (BAOSHAN), CHINA After we booked the tour I found out that 1-October is also what they call in China the Golden week , this is a mandatory vacation week in all China so we expecting to have many local families and not many foreigners on board. We might experience some traffic as many are traveling this week but I do not think its going to be showstopper. We choose this period as we also have some holidays and many bridge days between. Post the cruise we will go to the airport and fly to Singapore , we considered to stay some extra days in Chania but was not sure if we will have multi entrance visa or a single entry which mean that we will have to use transfer visa on the way back, at the end we got the multi until as long as the passport is not expired. We will be in Singapore for three nights at our favorite hotel in the world (or should I say our favorite swimming pool in the world), it will be good for some rest time although I might need to have a face to face meeting with one of our customers for few hours. From Singapore we will fly to Thailand to chill out , currently only Bangkok but we might fly to one of the islands , depends what the weather will be. So almost three week vacation before going back home. There are many difference is cruise out of China : 1. Activities cost money (north star ,Ifly , skypad, laser tag) I will give the prices later. 2. Food in the MDR is different – the menu is a picture menu with many Chinese flavor. 3. Instead of sea class , sky class and start class there is golden class and silver class. 4. In the golden glass there are not just suites but also balconies cabins with suite services. 5. No coastal kitchen but golden dinning room and maybe silver dining room (not sure yet). 6. The solarium is only for Golden and Silver class. 7. Golden class have access to some other dedicated places (again not sure about silver) , there are also elevators just for suites class. 8. Wonderland with Chinese menu. 9. Dining package is not offer before the cruise. 10. No Diamond lounge – only the 3 free drinks during happy hour. 11. Many first timer. 12. MDR late seating is 7 PM. I am sure I will find more differences , but difference are many time a good thing , it will push us from the comfort zone to experience new things. More to come.

Day 9 - Sunset With our departure getting closer, the clouds are retreating. We've been very fortunate with our sunsets on this cruise.

Good Moring From St. Martin Today I Got Up And Well… I Rode The Flowrider. Also I Am Wearing A Lovely Royal Caribbean Blog Shirt! After The Flowrider I Did The Water Slides.

I'd be finding a way to drive to Puerto Rico

I started a thread a few months ago about thoughts of cruising with a plant based diet. At that time RC had just posted that they were making vegan menu options available in the main dining room. Now I can report back from my Majesty of the Seas experience. Good news for those thinking vegan choices would crowd out other choices on the menu. A separate vegan menu, really a four course meal with some choice is given upon request. It does not impact the main dining room menu at all. The food was delicious and different every night. It included a choice of appetizer and main course with a soup and dessert for you. Of course you can also order off of the regular menu if you find something there. On Majesty, there is a chef that is responsible for most of the choices and service was just about at the same speed with the rest of the patrons. Pictures are worth a thousand words so below are the menus and some food shots...

UPDATE #2: @AnnetteJackson reached out to me, and made another push to get my reservation transfered over to MEI, and it was successful! Just the extra effort to transfer my reservation was above the call of duty. Kelley and Annette went above and beyond, and I appreciate it greatly. It's a relief to know that I have a heavy hitter in my corner, and I look forward to working with them.

I suggest taking a large orange cone and placing it on it the table. 😊😊 These are used to ward off people for just about anything nowadays.

Hilton Vancouver Airport Free shuttle from the airport. I don't recall booking a Junior King Suite but that's what they gave me. Separate sitting area from the bedroom. Bedroom. Bathroom. I walked over the the Richmond Center shopping mall and their food court for dinner.

Day 11, Port Everglades Rinse, lather, repeat. Turn around day but moving cabins this time.

I'd share that I have zero desire to cruise on any of the ships that are like amusement parks on water. I don't want or need water slides or zip lines or any of that. I am probably in the minority but there has to be more than one of me that is okay with just sitting quietly and reading a book while I sip a drink. There has to be more than one of me out there but probably not many so they leave the smaller ships to us folks who actually avoid slides and zip lines and all that. I have nothing against them personally but it's just not what I want when I cruise. I'd like to think they realize there are still a few of us left around. Let me have that illusion.

@Matt I think the Brilliance Group Cruise might have to have a bakery taste test meet up so that we can determine which of these places are better than the other!

Couple of observations.... All the people who "reported" Melody was definitely the name....just further evidence cannot trust the rumor mill implicitly. I really like the name. I get Disney has a ship called Wonder, but half the ships in the cruise industry share names (Carnival Liberty, Liberty of the Seas, etc). Ultimately, it doesn't matter. Yes, I'm disappointed I wont be able to sail on her anytime soon since she's going to China. Alas, the first four Oasis Class ships came to USA, so we're still doing pretty good. I really, really like the new design, especially the upper decks. Looks futuristic.

Paper in my left pocket with my passport, tip money for porters in my right pocket. That's how I roll. Put it to a beat and make it a country or rap song. Repeat the verse for every cruise.

Nope, can all be done with the app Though I do still like to have the paper ones in my carry on just in case my phone lets me down

Day 3Day 6 , sea day or the day I got tired fighting the "fastest internet in the seas". Woke up much too early for the a sea day tried to do some work overt the internet just to find once more it's not working. I know it can be all due to coverage but if you know your coverage is bad at this area and when it is connected you provide 300-600 KB how dare you ask for 20$ per day ? Oh well it saved me from joining several meetings, I watch the morning show instead , on the morning show they speak English and then translate it to Mandrin , but it always seems they say one sentence in English and translate it to 50 sentence in Mandarin , even the Captain lough on this subject in the Captain corner. Here is a picture of Fanf the cruise director (and the only Mandarin speaking CD in RCL per him , well it's a good job security 🙂 ) and the activity director that I think named Rafael or Bonnie , maybe I missed or maybe she change it every second day , not sure. I think both are doing good job , it's not easy to run a bilingual operation and they try very hard. By the way if you asked yourselves , not all the cruise employee require to know Mandarin , actually most of them do not. You see the regular mix from all around the world (it's interesting to write a post one time on how the jobs divided between employee from certain countries). we went to 270 for breakfast which we enjoyed while watching the Silk team practice (it's a new team) . We went to deck 15 to watch the Isky and the flowrider (from the Isky you have very nice view over the flowrider. The flowrider allow both standing and non standing boards during the time it's open , lines were normal Our next stop was to see if we can catch a ride in the bumping cars lines were too long , one of the cars was taken by the CD and he orgnized a compition between everyone , getting points by hitting him. Next we went to check the SkyPad VR experience. Firstlet me just say it better to do this at the beginning of the cruise as they wight you before you can ride, second glad to say I did not gain weight 🙂 . The experience is nice , the VR did not cost me any seasick feeling or anything like that , the harness are not that comfortable on certain areas (one very specific ). I might try it again with different pants. We took light lunch as we had big dinner plans. We took some nap , some ship tour , our favorite cafe Leafs and beans to drink another cheese tea and start to organize for dinner. Dinner was in Wonderland which I booked on the cruise planner . We wanted to taste something different , we both eat in the regular Wonderland before and quite enjoyed it. Here the consept is different. It's a tasting menu which you can not choose what and how much to eat. The menu comes with the regular magic presentation So we started with the Geoduck which was first time for me , it was interesting. Second was the Avocado role that came smoked (like in wonderland eggs) this was very good. The next one was the leafs salads which was escorted with son peanut souces. Following by cuttlefish soup , it was strange black soup. We got the lobster , which was good lobster over a risotto The next sample was a filet which came with abalone souce. It was delicious and we were sad it finished. We got the duck which came with do it yourself tacos , we found it very good. Last was the Chinese Noodles which I could skip For dessert we got ice cream , it was good but not special. All in all its was good , it was rushed and it was something to try , will I go again , not so sure He agreed with me

This is precisely what I did. I want to be able to go to the Club, swim in the pool and eat some lobster but I have learned from experience that the cabanas are a waste of money for us. We just take naps there. So I feel like entrance into the club at $64.99 PP was a pretty good deal. The "floating" cabanas (I guess they have renamed them from "Over-the-water" to "floating") for us are $1499 (Anthem, Feb. 2020). For the 2 of us to take a nap that is just waaaytooo much. I am, however, interested to see what the Club is like.

Onboard at 10:42AM. That’s a record! Glass of Prosecco in the suites lounge at 10:52AM. WOOHOO!

Ordered lunch poolside. Simple order. Cheeseburger, fries, Mexican mule blender drink. It took ~30 minutes to arrive (which I thought was totally acceptable as busy as the pool was — I certainly didn’t complain or ask about it). They apologized profusely, comped my meal and brought me double drinks (also comped). Wow. Gonna leave a stratospheric tip. Cheeseburger, fries and blender drinks were great. I have no idea why they thought they messed up.

Your credit card needs to be linked to your onboard account, meaning that's what you set up when you checked in for the cruise. Then you will sit at a slot machine and insert your SetSail pass. Select ACCOUNT. Then select PERSONAL BANKER. You will be asked for your PIN number. If you haven't set one up then it will default to your birthday as MMDD. You will then select TRANSFERS. Select ROOM CHARGE. Then you can select a preset amount or select OTHER and enter in your own dollar amount. You are asked to confirm the charge. Success! Added to the slot machine. From there you hit COLLECT on the machine and it will print out a ticket.

Is it just me, or did it get shady in here all of a sudden? 🤣

Not to get too sidetracked, but since you went there... I seem to recall a certain Brilliance live blog starting a month or so before departure. Let's see... January 3 blog start for a February 14 sailing. 42 days! Now let's compare with the other candidate with early blogging syndrome... February 2nd blog start for a March 10 sailing. 36 days! Not even close @Matt Not only did you start way earlier before the sail date, you also started your blog a full month before @Lovetocruise2002 started hers. Fortunately there is a little blue pill for early blogging syndrome...

My comments made it into the video. I feel like such a celebrity! (No autographs or paparazzi, please!)

So ... @StephanieH ... about my booking ... I wanted to ask you ... about ... uhmm... Just playing! You're an awesome TA!

If I booked GTY and got an aft balcony I'd be buying lottery tickets! So jealous!

We bought the Photo Package on our two Mariner cruises this year and really liked it. On the first cruise we took home (digitally) over 100 pictures and on the recent three night adventure 90 photos. We made a point of stopping at each and every photo opportunity. We thought the quality of the pictures was very good to excellent. Usually you can see the pictures within an hour on board through the link they share with you and just the other day RCCL sent me a zip file with all of the pictures from this month's cruise. I usually send the ones we like best to Walmart for printing and to put in a small memento photo album. And the digital pics can be shared easily on social media and shared with family and friends. Discounts are always available on embarkation and the first day or two of the cruise. And when you get the package you also recieve some accessories. In our case we got a small album and a 5x7 RCCL frame.

I wish I would've known about the benefits of booking your next cruise on board.... at the time, the lower deposits to go along with the OBC.

I found this on Facebook from Rob Stone Photography. He brought a drone to Coco Cay (he was initially told he could use it before someone else told him no). You can see a tiny bit of what is going on behind the construction walls. Unfortunately is is not very much. But hey, something is better than nothing. Edit: new link as the last one was private.

I like the new wear you best thing. In the end people will wear what they want anyways why use the word formal.... If I'm eating in a restaurant with my wife enjoying a nice meal, why would I care if some is at the next table in a tuxedo or slacks and a polo shirt.

Since the banning of extension cords and power bars and with the hope of avoiding one of Royal's '25 Orange Extension Cords I have done the following: - For my CPAP I bought a 15' cord to replace the standard 6' cord that goes from the outlet to the power transformer block . You can buy them on Amazon as they are the same cords used for TVs and some computers. - I bought a 220v plug adapter with USB ports. This allow for an additional plug at the desk for dual voltage devices as well as 2 spots for charging phone, tablets etc. - Lastly, I went to the hardware store and bought an old fashioned 1 to 3 square block 110v adapter. These days as most things are USB powered … having 5 standard outlets and 2 USB outlets is all we need. Total investment was less than $20.

My pleasure. You won't be disappointed

I appreciate Michelle even more after reading this. 👍

@morgan94 - based on what you wrote, I would suggest you skip purchasing The Key for this trip. imho, having The Key on the Adventure will not make a material difference in your experience as a first timer. You have no frame of reference yet. If you want access to the internet for 1 device or a meal at a specialty restaurant, buy those things a la carte - but don't talk yourself into buying The Key, just because various items/experiences are bundled. Had you said you were absolutely buying a 2 device internet package, my answer would be to consider The Key (assuming only 2 people aged 6 or older in your cabin). No one can tell you if The Key or any other purchase it worth it for you - price out what you can, then go with your gut. In the end, your decision is neither right or wrong. That is my short answer - keep reading for my very long answer. Here are my thoughts on The Key.... It will move you closer to the front of the line when boarding, but that might only be a few minutes difference. Timing your arrival to when boarding likely starts and you might not even have a chance to try out a chair at the terminal - check in and walk right to the ship. Drop off for carryons - sure that is nice, but we would never give up the bag with all our paperwork/ids/electronics/meds/etc so we always carry 1 bag around till cabins open. The bags we drop with the porters do contain some things that others would never let out of their sight, but sometimes we like to live on the edge. VIP seating is not always in the best locations. Before cabins are open, go into the theaters and scope out where YOU think is a great seat. This will also let you figure out the best deck to be on as you make your way to a show. Remember, there could be 100+ other Key holders vying for those "VIP" seats - you are not be guaranteed a seat in that section. Chops Lunch is stripped down from the restaurant's regular lunch menu. Although you mentioned you aren't planning on doing specialty dining, look at purchasing just lunch at Chops on its own. On one sailing, I found it for $17pp. You can have lunch on your schedule with the full menu - it can be a small but very tasty splurge. Special times for Key holders for certain activities might not work for you. You won't know until you get to your cabin and read the Key letter when the special times are scheduled during the week. Key times for an activity might be when you are in a port or as you are getting ready for dinner. If you can take advantage of the Key times, you will likely have very little company. I know of a few people who could make the IFly time for Key holders on the Anthem and flew several times during the session. Internet codes are sometimes waiting in your cabin. There might also be a crew member stationed near the boarding area who will have a master list of all the Key internet codes if you don't want to wait for cabins to open. Debark breakfast and walk off ship - anyone can have breakfast in the MDR on the last morning. There is a special Key breakfast menu that morning, but there are only a couple of things that you can't get on the regular MDR breakfast menu. Walk off is whenever you want to leave and all Key tagged luggage is in a special section in the terminal. Key holder also have a special line for customs - short line depending on how many others are in your Key group during walk off. Full disclosure - We had The Key while on the Anthem this past April. I got it for $19.99 pppd. I bought it because I was curious about the program, had never been on a ship where you had to make reservations for shows (wondered how VIP seats worked) and didn't have a lot of money tied up in excursions at the ports. Priority boarding isn't a big deal for us - ever - but had we been in our C&A section I think we might have waited 5 minutes longer to board (rounding up). As stated above, we carried on only 1 bag of important stuff (no wine/soda this trip) so we didn't use the drop off perk. We had a choice of Chops or Jamie's for the Key lunch - we picked Jamie's since we have had lunch at Chops on other ships. Menu again was stripped down and while what we had was tasty, there were some things on the regular menu we would have liked to order. This was the only time we had an internet package while on a cruise. We can get by with finding free WiFi in port and family always knows how to reach us when we are on a ship. Honestly, we like to disconnect while on vacation. Phones become cameras and we post/email when on shore. If we ever want internet access again, we now know sharing 1 login code will work for us. We sat in the Key seats in 270 for the Cabaret show but I as soon as the show started I wished we sat somewhere else. We have never chosen to sit close to the stage at any production show (or in theaters at home), but we chose the Key seats for We Will Rock You and I will say that the middle seats in Row 4 were in a word - AWESOME! We did enjoy that! However, we would have enjoyed that show from any of our usual seating preferences in the main theaters. We didn't utilize the Key time for certain activities because...wait for it.....we were in port or getting ready for dinner. When we were at Coco Cay, Key holders could wait in the Music Hall before we were cleared to get off the ship. As a first timer on the Anthem who didn't know any better, we went there to wait. The Key group had an escort and left the ship from a special door, but then we realized we had to walk back the entire length of the ship and the non-Key guests had been leaving the ship from the regular doors for a while. No harm, but could have just waited to get off the ship like a regular guest. Key breakfast on the last morning is a story unto itself - food was tasty. Find me onboard at a bar and I will share. Makes me laugh out loud every time I think about it. The Key walk off worked but gave us another funny story to tell sometime. Key tagged bags were waiting right next to customs and as I said before the lines for Key holders were quick. IIRC, porters and Key people shared the same custom agent. Some Key people with lots of luggage still got a porter to help with bags. We normally get a porter to bypass the regular custom lines so having the Key didn't get us anything a non-Key cruiser couldn't get. Hope this helped some.

Almost 22 years since I've been there, and I still recognized this instantly. This is the Kalalau Valley I mentioned earlier. Those clouds hanging over it are almost always there, and it's very hard on the land tours to get a view from above. Just as stunning and beautiful all these years later!

They Were Fixing The Aqua Theater Tonight. Here Some Radom Photos Of The Ship And St. Thomas Tonight I Did The Flowrider From 6:00 To 10:00 Which Was Awesome!! DJI_0281.MP4 After That I Saw Our Night Sailaway From St. Thomas! After That It Was Time For A Nice Dinner At The Windjammer.

Dinner Time!!! We ate in the MDR for dinner each night. We like the food there, and with our youngest not being very adventurous with his meal choices we dont want to pay the cover at a specialty restaurant for him to order grilled cheese. So here is the night one menu. Standard across the fleet. So Johnny ordered...........wait for it................. . Grilled cheese with a side of broccoli. (He actually loves broccoli) He ordered this for dinner EVERY night on our Anthem cruise. Lydia had her best day ever with pizza and french fries Heather and I ordered the escargot and antipasti plate for our appetizer. I had the chicken marsala, it was okay Heather had the prime rib, which was very good. Heather and I had the creme brulee for dessert.......which was actually overcooked. We ate one bite and said no more.

First ever cruise for me was just last these, on Freedom of the Seas for an 8-night Eastern Caribbean sailing. It was a celebration of many milestones: our 20th anniversary, our older daughter graduating high school, and our middle one graduating middle school. I think my happiest memory was the four of us getting to swim with the dolphins in St. Kitts. It was a bucket list item for my wife, and it was the happiest I remember seeing her. Paid a real premium for that full photo disc, but worth every penny for that memory. Apart from that, my favorite personal experiences were sitting on my balcony and watching that incredible cobalt blue of the deep ocean going by, and going to the helipad at night to see the stars. That in particular was just stunning!

Please @Love2Cruise2002 & @WAAATOOO and anyone else who would like to chime in, we are sailing in 36 days and are told the sailing is pretty much full. Never heard anything from Royal Up yet so we will be in an OS deck 11. Our embarkation lunch we plan to go to the CK on 17, is this super crowded on embarkation day? With the SL open 11-11 can we get a glass of wine with lunch as the amenity? We have the refreshment package as when I did the math even with our max of possibly 4 glasses a day, and even that is a stretch, it would not make sense cost wise to purchase the DBP At what time should we expect to be allowed into our stateroom? I am a 50 something mom and I am excited like a little kid, I just can't wait. Any additional advice for this first time family? Thanks so much!!